


Past and Present

by ivanna



Category: Suits (TV), The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Family Secrets, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 07:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/976256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivanna/pseuds/ivanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Hessington case Travis Tanner thinking about his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past and Present

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Tarlan for beta reading.

Travis Tanner unlocked the door of his apartment and entered inside. Once he closed and locked the door behind his back, the smug cocky grin that he had worn disappeared off his face. His features became stern, his eyes flashed dangerously. No one was as good at hiding behind a smiling mask as him. He didn’t let anyone slip beneath that mask. Never did and never will.

He was mad. Harvey was off the hook again, and again not because of the lack of his, Tanner’s, skills. That case had promised to be a great fun but instead it had turned out to be one big disappointment. Travis was a smart, wise and seasoned lawyer. He knew how to lose and he knew that sometimes you had to lose, but this time had nothing to do about losing and winning. 

He went to a dresser and put his case on its top, then raised his hand and loosened his tie. His eyes caught his reflection in a mirror above the dresser and he stilled looking closely at himself. He was called a snake, a shark, an asshole, a bastard, inhuman and God knew what else and he deserved all those names. He liked being seen that way. That suited him just fine… just like his expensive suit. But when he stripped off that suit, that mask, he became vulnerable, and he hated being vulnerable. Today he got more proof that he was right in keeping this attitude. It was disgusting being soft. 

Harvey was a man he respected despite all the turns and bumps of their relationship. Or maybe because of them. But now Harvey had disappointed him. That woman had made him soft. Instead of a good fight, he preferred to crawl on his knees and whine like a whipped dog before Ava Hessington. Ava disappointed him too, but she was a woman, and women had always been guided by feelings. But Harvey… Harvey didn’t even have the guts to punch him anymore. Travis did his best dragging Scottie’s ass through the mud and what did he get from Harvey? 

“What the hell happened to you? Why are you doing this, Tanner?”

He could answer truthfully, “Because we're the best at what we do and we’ve got to keep each other sharp.” 

But if Harvey didn’t realize it himself then that answer would only be a waste of breath. That woman, Scottie, had messed with his brains and Harvey was useless now. If Harvey wanted a fair fight then he had to get rid of her first. If they met face to face and fought with their minds without any of Harvey’s back-up as they fought with their bodies in the ring – then Travis fought fair.

Travis stripped off his jacket and hung it on the back of a chair; his tie followed. He undid the top buttons of his dress shirt and went to the bar to take a drink. After pouring a whiskey into a glass, he added a couple of ice cubes and headed to the bedroom. He lowered himself on the bed and stretched his legs out on a luxurious bed cover, sipping the whiskey as he leaned his head back against a pillow, still thinking. 

Softness meant weakness, and he knew very well how destructive weakness could be. His family history had proven it. His great-grandmother, Charlotte Richmond, had a decent life which included a husband and a piece of land in the South-West, but in a moment of weakness she ran away with a man who had promised her nothing. That man, Vin Tanner, had spent one night with her and then left her without any explanation. Just said, “I've changed my mind about us,” and returned where he belonged, to his former life and the men he was riding with. Travis didn’t blame him. Charlotte was a weak woman; she needed to depend on someone, but Vin Tanner was rough and wild even for the Old West. He was a bounty hunter framed for murder, a tracker and a sharpshooter who had spent his whole life on the edge of civilization. Charlotte had tried to rebuild a family with her husband, but very soon after she discovered she was pregnant, and the father of the child obliviously wasn’t her husband. Will Richmond had no intention of raising the child of another man and he had kicked her out of home. She had written a letter to Vin Tanner but he never answered. Eventually, she returned East, to her hometown of Boston. When the child, a son, was born, she gave him the last name of Tanner as a reminder to future generations that one moment of weakness could destroy a whole life. 

Travis’ thoughts shifted to Vin Tanner, his great-grandfather. 

What did he look like? What happened to him? Did his elopement with Charlotte affect his life? Why did he never answer her letter? Maybe he wasn’t so much cruel but simply illiterate as many were at that time? But it no longer mattered. The only thing that mattered was that Travis was a Tanner and he had to live up to being a Tanner. No principles and no rules, except for his own; to have every right to stick his nose into other people’s business and to never let anyone to get inside his life. To never be weak, and never be soft.

Travis sat up in bed and downed his whiskey. The cocky lop-sided grin appeared on his face again. Tomorrow would be another day and he would find another prey. 

END


End file.
